Masters in Psychology ~ 1.5
- A.Exquisite
- May 6, 2024
- 11 min read
Updated: Aug 7, 2024
x AALiYah
Introduction to Foundations, Psychology Graduate Studies
week 5 objectives:
Critical Thinking
Problem-solving
Presentation
discussions using critical thinking to solve problems.
the submission of the assignment for critical thinking.
class objectives included presenting a scenario for utlizing effective written communication & critical thinking skills.
my drafted goals:
I will create a list of all the specialty designations of legal psychology by researching 1 specialty per week in order to plan my career path by the end of my first graduate psychology class.
I will review 3 legal psychology Judge-trial cases by researching 1 case per week to know the relationship between psychology and law in 3 weeks’ time.
I will review 3 successful family psychology cases by researching 1 case per week to know if actual healing is being achieved in 3 weeks’ time.
excerpt on my additions to the discussion:
•"An example of a common situation at work or at home that requires critical thinking to understand an issue or solve a problem:
Taking care of the interior and exterior. For exterior, garbage must be disposed of properly, green spaces of nature must be gardened and or manicured, and the building itself must receive upkeep maintenance for structure, gutters, etc. For interior, cleanliness is imperative, though there may be different standards among all involved in sharing the space, as well as decisions for space/room utilization.
How can the scientific method guide your thinking process in this situation?
1. Question/Purpose: Present the problem to yourself as a question needing answered, as answer are solutions – In what ways can we give our home or office building the utmost care for prolonged upkeep in functionality and appearance?
2. Hypothesis: The first few solutions, or answers that come to mind can be used for a thesis statement or hypothesis – We can give our home or office building the utmost care for prolonged upkeep in functionality and appearance by: taking care of the interior and exterior.
3. Experiment: Let’s gather everyone involved in this type of decision-making to form a list detailing their hypothesized solution and put the suggestions to the test – Co-owner #1 suggests a fresh coat of paint for the exterior, and biweekly pest control for the interior and exterior. Co-owner #2 suggests sections of the yard spaces for a fruit garden, and a flower garden. CEO suggests biweekly hiring cleaning services for the interior. CFO suggests the budget for the list of suggestions. Admin #1 keeps record and schedule, while Admin #2 does the schedule and adds suggestions as they come in.
4. Conclusion: Let the conclusion be the realized results of the experiment, including what service occurrence needs adjustment and if it was or wasn’t the right suggestions to the problem.
If you had to work collaboratively with others in this situation, how might you benefit from strong oral communication skills?
Clearly stating the problem, sharing evidence of the problem, opening up the floor for input of solutions or clearly stating solutions already found, and sharing evidence of the problem being resolved by the solutions offered.
What can you do to practice professional oral communication skills during your program?
Applying oral communication skills in multiple areas of life will allow for flow in the professional settings, exercise these skills as you would with exercising for fitness goals – dedicate a certain amount of time. Listen to others with your goal-level of skill for inspiration and to evaluate how and/or why their messages are received clearly by yourself."
instructions & topic list for presentation assignment:
"Critical thinking is a valuable skill in every aspect of life. Consider the times when you have used critical thinking and how it affected the situation. In this assignment, you will analyze a scenario and use critical thinking to propose a course of action. To benefit from critical thinking, you must be able to communicate your thoughts verbally as well as in writing. Presentations give you an opportunity to focus your thoughts into a few key ideas, then provide a verbal explanation of those ideas.
Create a 6- to 8-slide Microsoft PowerPoint presentation with detailed speaker notes.
Select one of these scenarios:
An angry coworker is expressing their needs through a rush of emotion and snide comments while another coworker is trying to interpret them to provide some help and support.
You are a manager and are having a team meeting. Two people on the team get in a dispute about how to complete a project.
A customer leaves an unfair, negative review on an online site about services/products provided by your business.
You and your friend at work both apply for a management position. You are offered the position, but your friend is not. Now the situation feels uncomfortable between you two. Your friend is only speaking to you at work when necessary and is not speaking to you outside of work at all. You do not want to live with this tension, and you want your friend back.
You are part of a collaborative group with 4 members on the team who have been assigned to complete a project together. Your team meets, discusses the requirements of the assignment, and assigns tasks to each team member. Immediately, one team member begins emailing the team to ask questions that show that they do not understand what they are supposed to do, even after repeated emails to try to explain. When they turn in their part, the other team members note that it is poorly done. This individual did not do some of what was asked, and some of what they did do was not what they were asked to do or it was not even part of the assignment.
Create your own conflict-based scenario or use one from your own experiences.
Include the following in your presentation:
Describe the interaction/situation/problem. What inferences did you have to make, or what conclusions did you have to draw about the scenario?
Explain the issues you identified in the scenario. Which factors should be considered? What is the source of the conflict?
List the questions you asked yourself that demonstrate critical thinking. How did you address each question in your thinking process?
Propose how someone else might handle this scenario. How might someone with a different perspective come to a decision about this scenario? How might you collaborate with them to reach a mutual decision? Describe your thinking process."
excerpt frm my assignment:
speaker's notes
"Here we have a situation where a crime has taken place. As an investigative team arrives, all members begin surveying all aspects per each of their respective roles. The forensic psychologist on-site discovers a problem with the scene, butcontinues diving deeper into research before confirming the suspected discovery. “Site visits and crime scene visitation by forensic psychologists and psychiatrists may enhance the accuracy and credibility of their forensic work in criminal, civil, and other important contexts. This ethically sound technique of after‐the‐fact data collection and verification offers numerous potential benefits to the forensic mental health professional: clarifying the subject's actions, assessing the reliability of witness reports, identifying contextual determinants of behavior, and more fully illuminating subject motivation and decision‐making. ” (Mohandie, K., 2013). “Within the arena of criminal and other investigations, the site visit by responding law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, and forensic specialist personnel is standard operating procedure that supports the pragmatic purpose of resolving the crime or issue at hand (such as the appropriateness of an officer's use of deadly force). Ordinarily, these investigative activities occur immediately after the situation has been discovered and rendered safe. Instant access to the site of events for these professionals enables the capture and memorialization of potentially useful information for solving and understanding the case and may identify key witnesses and evidence. When forensic psychologists and psychiatrists are consulted on cases, ultimatelythey are rendering opinions related to the behavior of subjects. While they are usually relying upon the information captured by on‐site investigators, missing within these two‐dimensional and often hearsay reports and materials is the experiential context of the behavior in question. This assessment technique addresses the fundamental attributional error that often occurs when observers diminish the influence of the environment when judging others’ behavior and emphasize environmental influences when evaluating their own behavior. As noted by Rosenhan [ 3] , trained mental health professionals are not immune to this effect. Even when video or other media have been employed to document this context, there are often subtle details relevant to the issues at hand that are not available with these traditional recording techniques. Site visits by retained forensic mental health professionals fill such a void and may help guard against type I and type II errors.” (Mohandie, K., 2013). “It was also noted in this case by plaintiffs’ attorneys that there were discrepancies between officers’ recall of events, officers’ descriptions of fellow officers’ behavior (including whether they had fired their weapons) and statements (commands directed toward the suspect), and independent witness descriptions of subject and officer behavior, which raised important potential credibility and reliability problems. The site visit in this case helped reduce the negative effects of reliance upon such hearsay by providing the forensic psychologist a direct appreciation of where various witnesses were positioned during approximate intervals within the unfolding, dynamic event. Ultimately, it became clear that witness (both involved officers and independent civilian) positions and perspectives very much influenced what they saw and heard. These site visit findings accounted for most discrepancies, better anchored discreet behaviors sequentially during specific points of the event, ruled out at least one alternative hypothesis (officers or witnesses lying), and verified assumptions about these matters that otherwise may have been deemed speculation by a potential trier of fact.” (Mohandie, K., 2013).
•Inferences: the process of inferring often begins with hypothesizing. The inferences are drawn from the data collected, and a conclusion is reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •Thesis: By collecting video and DNA evidence from the scene of the crime, the Forensic Psychologist is able toinfer that the scene has been staged, and is not what it appears to be. • • •Presumption of innocence: Innocent until proven guilty •Presumption of guilt: Guilty until proven innocent •
•The Forensic Psychologist has reason to believe that this crime scene was staged. •Thesis: By analyzing the collected video recording of the crime take place, DNA evidence from the scene of thecrime, and communicating with a Behavioral Psychologist for odd behaviors of the suspected assassinators, theForensic Psychologists questions the validity of the scene. •“Included in the definition of critical thought offered by Garside (1996) is the critical thinker who does not blindly accept universal truths, but rather approaches phenomena with a healthy dose of skepticism, and the ability to see the strengths and weaknesses in any given claim.” (Vejar, C., 2018) •Identified issues: •“In the current era of growing digitalization, electronic evidence has emerged as a crucial element in criminalinvestigations. The previous several decades have seen incredible scientific advancements in the realm ofinformation technology, leading to an electronic revolution that is now pervasive in all facets of daily life. It hasbecome extremely difficult to do without its unlimited services. However, there are some mentally ill peoplewho have exploited these advanced methods to commit many crimes, using the enormous potential of theseinnovations. The rates of these crimes have increased during the last two decades, in a way that has led to theemergence of new criminal phenomena known as information crime or electronic crime (Al-Thunaibat, 2003). Organized crime was carried out using the Internet, including electronic fraud by tampering with inputs andprograms, illegal copying of programs, and many crimes related to electronic commerce. Crimes are alsocommitted by destroying electronic devices and computer records, broadcasting pornographic images andfilms, defamation and insults via e-mail, and money laundering using electronic money (Hosni, 1998).” (Khashashneh, T., 2023). •“Given the special nature of the electronic crime scene, the difficulties, and complex steps that the criminalinvestigator may face to conduct the electronic examination in order to obtain evidence, which, as we know, isstored in electronic means, it can be manipulated and change the truth that we seek. Therefore, the researchproblem can be summarized in the fact that the use of digital technology in electronic crime scenes constitutesa new challenge for the authorities to search and investigate crimes (Rostom, 1994).” (Khashashneh, T., 2023). •Factors to be considered: •The family goes on a social media, media tour: doing interviews participating in talkshows, taking over accounts, shopping, saying odd things and shushing each other on camera, taking part in activities only the suspected terminated would that no one has ever seen these particular people do, taking (stealing) personal items , professing their innocence before anyone began asking questions, talking down on their “loved one,” and more odd behaviors while they should be grieving. •Motive is a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious. (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •Fame is the state of being known or talked about by many people, especially on account of notable achievements. (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •Limelight is the focus of publice attention (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •“Clout-chaser is a critical term for a person who is thought to be intent on attaining fame, especially one who tries to do so in ways considered desperate, such as leveraging their proximity to famous people or doing things considered foolish, degrading, or dangerous.” “The term clout chaser is most often applied to people viewed as attempting to increase their own fame or influence by trying to associate—or engage in conflicts—with those more popular or famous than themselves.” (Clout chaser, 2023). •Social media can be a tool to share information and stay connected with others. This tool can be misused by the type of information being shared and the intent behind sharing it •“The logic is grounded in theory—and a common empirical finding: people are more likely to commit crime closer to their activity nodes than farther away (Bernasco, 2019; Brantingham & Brantingham, 1991; Mentinget al., 2020; Ruiter, 2017).” (Curtis, 2022). •“Family annihilators "are driven to kill their family for a number of reasons," Garrett said. "Many times it's for financial problems.” (Shapiro, 2019). •“It has been indicated that the precautionary acts are the ‘behaviors that offenders commit before, during or after an offence that are consciously intended to confuse, hamper, or defeat investigative or forensic efforts for the purposes of concealing their identity, their connection to the crime, or the crime itself” [8]. With the goal of avoiding convictions, crime scene staging that refers to the deliberate alterations of physical evidence at the crime scene (including murder concealment) to mislead the authorities or to wrongly redirect an investigation [8,9] has been usually discovered. While in the past, murder victims were commonly left at crime scenes in identifiable conditions, the pattern has changed within these few years whereby murderers often conceal their victims in ways that make identification a challenging task, hence, delaying justice.” (Kamaluddin, M., 2021) •Parricide: “the killing of a parent or other near relative.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •Fratricide: “the killing of one's brother or sister.” (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2023). •Among adults, the fact that older children often acquire resources of money, houses, and land means that they can be an impediment to younger siblings acquiring this form of delayed parental investment.” (Barber, 2021)
Addressing each question in the critical thinking process: •Most families cannot establish and run a family business together, would the average person trust their family to run anentreprenuerial career created from by themselves from scratch? What is the need to take over someone’s affairs whenthey are deceased? Shouldn’t someone career stop when they do? •Why would a mother not request for an unauthorized picture of their son’s autopsy picture to be taken down? Why is itnot normal for an autopsy picture of anyone to be remain readily available via social media, only in this scenario? •The investigative team discusses these questions, and then separately, the team of psychologists discuss these questionsamongst themselves as professionals in the field of psychology to open a dialogue for deeper communication in theirfield. • •Who would want to eliminate a presidential candidate? •The several presidential assassinations in history are used in review. • •Things just don’t seem right. When answers are clear, critical thinking is put to rest, but when more questions arise, critical thinking continues into overdrive. •It is almost as if this crime was a part of a movie.
Thinking process: • •Why such questional behaviors from the candidates’ family and friends? •Why would the suspected assassinators go through such lengths to stage this crime scene? Could it be that the risingpresidential candidate had many enemies, including political ones? Would this have been the President we’ve all beenwaiting for? • •If the crime is indeed staged, what happened to the presidential candidate? If not assassination, could we be looking atabduction? • •On social media, the Forensic Psychologists finds that even with video and image of the suspected terminated’s bodyinanimate, many people share the same speculation that the presidential candidate is not truly deceased. Why is this a topic at all with such evidence thrown in our faces? •The truth is a calm, constant power, while lies are loud and swift. Lies aren’t revealed, truth is. Lies are heardfirst, truth must come to the light."
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